From 2015 to 2021, Croatia increased the share of renewable energy sources in total energy consumption by only 2.4 percentage points, while from 2009 to 2015, the share of renewable energy sources increased from 23.6% to 29%, or by 5.4 percentage points, as evidenced by data recently published by Eurostat.
This is further proof that in recent years there has been a stagnation in the development of renewable energy sources due to the lack of a regulatory framework that would enable such investments. The latest amendments to the Electricity Market Act, instead of bringing a turnaround, continued to block the development of renewable energy projects.
Today marks exactly one year since the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development was supposed to adopt a Regulation that would define the tenders for energy approval, the first step in project development, but 365 days later, the subordinate legislation has not been adopted.
However, missing deadlines in this sector is not unusual. The regulation that was supposed to be adopted under the previous Renewable Energy Sources Act was delayed by a full five years. Ultimately, the law was repealed without the corresponding subordinate legislation being adopted.
Solar energy is the fastest-growing energy source in Europe
For comparison, from 2015 to today, Sweden has increased its share of renewable energy sources by 10.4 percentage points, Estonia by 8.6, Cyprus by 8.5, Malta by 7, and the Netherlands by 6.6 percentage points.
The aforementioned Eurostat report shows that solar energy is the fastest-growing energy source in Europe. In 2008, only one percent of electricity in the EU was generated from this source, while in 2021, that share increased to 15.1%. In sunny Croatia, however, we obtain less than one percent of electricity from solar panels.
Despite the lack of a legal framework for investments in renewable energy sources, Croatia does not have such a bad overall share of RES in final energy consumption. According to Eurostat, it stands at 31.2%, which is higher than the EU average of 21.8%. However, the largest part of energy from RES relates to hydroelectric power plants, which were mostly built during the former Yugoslavia.
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